Sunday Runday
On this weekly column, Android Central Wearables Editor Michael Hicks talks in regards to the world of wearables, apps, and health tech associated to working and well being, in his quest to get quicker and healthier.
Garmin Join Plus is a surprisingly helpful skeleton of a powerful health subscription. The AI is generally a retread of the Garmin analytics you recognize and love, with loads of room to enhance. Nevertheless it’s simply window dressing subsequent to the Efficiency Dashboard, teaching movies, and different options designed to offer Garmin followers FOMO.
However the higher Join Plus will get and the extra options it receives, the extra it’s going to piss off loyal Garmin prospects already revolting over the service.
Garmin Join Plus is arguably probably the most important change Garmin has made to its enterprise mannequin in years. It joins the AI well being and health development alongside Fitbit, Samsung Well being, and Strava (amongst others). In doing so, Garmin undermined its decade-long enterprise mannequin of free software program paired with costly {hardware}.
Moderately than give attention to whether or not or not Garmin ought to have made Join Plus — or a minimum of bundled it with latest Fenix 8 purchases or all latest Garmin watches to ease the transition — I am going to focus on how Join Plus works in apply, what wants enhancements, and the place issues ought to go from right here.
Lively Intelligence has a ton of room to develop
Garmin Lively Intelligence and Strava Athlete Intelligence invite apparent comparisons. Except for the same names, each analyze customized health information and contextualize latest actions in opposition to previous traits. Strava’s AI just lately left beta, whereas Garmin’s could also be in beta for a while. So let’s examine them!
Garmin’s AI is mainly a time-sensitive chatbot that reacts to your most up-to-date or related health information and traits. I’ve seen it focus on my depth minute traits, present coaching standing, most up-to-date exercise, elevated stress averages, and day by day step traits over the previous couple of days.
It ranges from insightful to nagging and generally repeats itself when it runs out of issues to say.
Strava’s AI focuses extra carefully on particular person exercises. Every exercise will examine your coronary heart price, HR zone breakdown, tempo, elevation achieve, and Relative Effort in opposition to your 30-day common. That is one thing I would like to see Garmin emulate, displaying a static AI breakdown in every run’s “Overview” moderately than a fleeting be aware within the Dwelling web page.
I’ll say that Garmin’s AI appears a bit extra polished than Strava’s AI was in early beta; I nonetheless keep in mind the latter telling me that my 140 bpm-average run was an anaerobic effort. Then again, Lively Intelligence repeats data from the In Focus charts, watch face information fields, or Look widgets in your watch. Mainly, it is about reinforcing what Garmin considers essential, not something “unique.”
Possibly the AI will get extra targeted and specialised based mostly on what tidbits you label as “Fascinating” or “Not Fascinating” within the app. At the least, I hope it’s going to!
I not often sleep sporting my Garmin watch; individuals who carefully observe their HRV Standing or Physique Battery information might profit extra from these text-based summaries. For the individuals who solely put on Garmin watches for actions and Garmin Coach, I hope they will make Lively Intelligence extra targeted on that facet of issues.
As an illustration, the Garmin Coach tab might present an AI abstract of how you have improved since Week 1, or how nicely you are maintaining along with your scheduled exercises. Or the Challenges view might be aware in the event you’re behind on sure objectives and what sort of exercise you need to do subsequent to maintain observe.
I would prefer to see Lively Intelligence focus extra on longer-term traits. The Efficiency Dashboard (see the following part) has a ton of helpful insights and traits throughout years of information; perhaps the AI can be aware which charts and fields you are monitoring and replace you on altering traits when you do not have time to log into the desktop app.
As it’s, Lively Intelligence is a pleasant, restricted perk. Garmin watches have been already particular as a result of individuals might belief the Firstbeat Analytics algorithm analyzing their information behind the scenes. This AI simply places that info into textual content kind. So, let’s speak extra in regards to the different Join Plus options.
Efficiency Dashboard is the most effective a part of Join Plus
I have not spent a lot time within the Garmin Join desktop app, besides to export GPX information for my HR and GPS assessments; the cellular model is extra accessible and does not set off a 2FA code, regardless of how typically I test “Keep in mind Me.” Nevertheless, the Efficiency Dashboard makes the desktop Join app a lot extra compelling.
This new Join Plus characteristic has 123 charts, and you may arrange a max of 18 to be seen at any given time. There are far too many classes to listing right here, however you may observe the fundamentals like distance, variety of actions, or coaching load, or extra specialised stats like your working kind, endurance/hill scores, biking energy, swim strokes, Physique Battery, or race predictor over time.
For every of your 18 charts, you may set a customized date vary like “this month” or “final 26 weeks,” in addition to add overlay stats so you may see (for instance) how your whole distance over time matches along with your persistent load or common day by day stress.
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Mainly, it is a treasure trove of information you can fine-tune right into a a lot better and customized abstract of your latest progress than Garmin can match into its cellular “In Focus” part.
My quick favourite? The “Comparability” charts that present how my 2025 variety of actions, mileage, or elevation achieve compares to my stats in 2024. It helps me see (with out having to write down down stats myself) that I’ve fallen barely behind and wish to choose up the tempo in April.
It is extremely complete and customizable from my perspective as a semi-serious runner. So the one actual criticism I could make about Efficiency Dashboard is, nicely, that Garmin held this again for its subscription service.
Garmin Coach’s Coaching Steering has probably the most potential
Should you join Garmin Run or Biking Coach, you get a months-long coaching program with personalized exercises; no subscription is required. What’s new is “further unique knowledgeable steering from Garmin coaches — together with instructional content material and movies — for peak efficiency.”
I have not seen an excessive amount of of this but since you solely get one video per day, beginning with a generic “Welcome to your plan” onboarding video. However Garmin has at all times talked about its Teaching algorithm being backed by real-life coaches, and I would love to see day by day movies tied to your present exercise or normal recommendation.
As an illustration, when you’ve got an anaerobic dash exercise deliberate, a coach might clarify why it is necessary for runners preferring longer, slower runs; present footage of doable warm-up stretches earlier than your sprints; or speak about various kinds of observe exercises in the event you’re tired of Garmin’s typical choices.
Particular to the brand new Garmin energy cross-training exercises, we might see movies associated to correct squat kind or how sure muscle teams translate into higher working or biking kind. I doubt they’d have the manufacturing worth of Apple Health+ exercise movies, however it’s a begin!
I am unable to say whether or not these instructional movies will reside as much as my hopes, however this appears like a pure approach for Garmin to enhance its free Coach with content material that feels affordable to pay for moderately than a characteristic that ought to be free.
New badges: Enjoyable novelty or pay-to-win mistake?
I do not pay a lot consideration to Garmin badges besides as a motivator to try to hit sure month-to-month or quarterly mileage and steps objectives. Others take these badges as some extent of delight, competing with pals on factors leaderboards.
Now, Join Plus is including a bunch of latest, gold-tinted badges that present extra selection in what you may observe. Subsequent month, you may intention to burn 8,000 energy, climb 500/1,000 meters whereas working or climbing, report 3 hours in HR zone 3, hit a excessive Physique Battery rating for 7+ days, or common a quick tempo or larger HR throughout a couple of hours of strolling.
Garmin badges have at all times felt too inflexible and repetitive to me, so I see this as a enjoyable novelty, particularly if Garmin gives distinctive challenges each month. However I can completely perceive how the extra critical Garmin energy customers would possibly see this as a pay-to-win change that upends all the system as a result of individuals who do not pay for Join Plus cannot sustain with those that do.
What comes subsequent with Join Plus
Garmin at all times felt just like the exception to those subscription-driven corporations, promoting expensive {hardware} that will pay itself off by lasting for years with no post-purchase charges.
Join Plus modifications that, and whereas long-time followers may not care in regards to the AI, they will definitely resent not getting the Efficiency Dashboard and the opposite perks.
A number of the Join Plus options really feel like area of interest, power-user upgrades. It could’ve been good if the brand new LiveTrack upgrades — a devoted URL, auto-text alerts, and the choice to embed your progress chart on a web site — had been free updates, however I doubt nearly all of Garmin prospects use LiveTrack (appropriate me if I am flawed!).
The brand new Reside Exercise software feels far more like a “base” characteristic. You may see a couple of real-time stats within the cellular app throughout an exercise, in addition to set off the following step in an indoor exercise whereas checking the correct kind for about 500 totally different train varieties. This has numerous widespread attraction, each for normal gym-goers and for newbies, and it is a disgrace to see it behind the paywall.
General, I believe Join Plus would’ve at all times irritated individuals on precept, however much less so if Garmin had had the foresight to supply an extended trial interval to latest watch consumers. Google and Apple give a six-month trial with a brand new system, and Samsung has made Galaxy AI free for a few years. If Garmin had achieved the identical, it might’ve lessened the sting a bit.
As it’s, we will have to observe carefully to see what Garmin does with Join+ transferring ahead. Usually, individuals wait eagerly for brand spanking new options; on this case, any new Join+ options by the remainder of 2025 will solely worsen the outrage.
